I wouldn't know why someone would hate interpreting. It's the best thing to do to help others communicate. Why are those people that hate interpreting still holding up the jobs??? Why don't they quit and let people who are really interested get in?!?

Yeah, I know what you mean about the living expenses here in San Francisco. I'm barely surviving on my puny salary... You know, a court interpreter sounds very promising, especially with the huge Cantonese population here in SF. I remember I was in traffic court once down on 850 Bryant and a couple of Cantonese ladies were really sweating it when the clerk started asking them real simple questions. Lucky I was there to help them out, they seemed so grateful.

As for the government job prequisite, is it the same as what postal workers go through? Also, even though I work for and am paid by UCSF, I am actually a federal employee, will I need to go through all the procedures or would I get priority? heehee

What is the local government sponsored job agency anyways? Would you be kind enough to share their contact information... is it EDD or something?

The problem many of these interpreters have is that this is a dead end job for them. As a Cantonese interpreter, you are not just dealing with standard Cantonese, but dealing with provincial Cantonese and various types of Cantonese from other provinces and countries. The same too with Mandarin. Not every Mandarin speaker speaks standard Mandarin. They can understand me more than I can understand them because my Mandarin is standard and there's isn't. Standard Mandarin has 4 tones, but that is not true for provincial or colloquial Mandarin. Therefore, it is easy to see the frustrations encountered by interpreters.

People just can't quit their jobs because they hate it, otherwise, why are you still at your job? The benefits are good. The location is good. Bills need to get paid...

The procedure is similar to the postal service. If you are already a federal employee, consult your union to see how you can move around the federal government.

EDD is a government sponsored job resource center, and a good place to start. Other communities have one-stop job centers financed by the government.